Absurdist theater is a phrase coined by Martin Esslin, a theather critic who grouped together several playwrights who wrote in a similar fashion. Absurdist drama is a direct result of World War 2, and is about the way people felt after it. There are three types of Absurdism: Fatalism, Existentialism, and Hilarious. Fatalism is the type of theater Beckett wrote (Waiting for Godot, End Game), where man is trapped in life, even basic communication is cut off. Existentialism is that if there is no point, at least you can rationalize an existance, No Exit is an example of this. Hilarious is the type Ionesco wrote (The Lesson), based off the Neitzsche prinicpal that man invented laughter to keep sanity. The entire point of Absurdism is that there is no point to life on the surface, so there has to be some reason to live. It's an attempt to answer to the fundemental questions, why are we here? etc.
One might argue that Samuel Beckett, the author of Waiting fo Godot, is the best absurdist playwright, even though crictics hated it until a group of prison inmates did a production of it.
by josh howard December 14, 2008
Get the absurdist mug.A process of making something stupid because that is what Google says it is.
For Example: If you put “Reductio ad Absurdum” into Google Translate it detects the language as Latin, and translates it to English as: “Reductio ad Absurdum.”
Another Example: For years (through May 29, 2018 at least) if you ask Google "What does it mean to be an American?" it responds with this as the first answer (in a box even):
"It means that I can say "The Pledge of Allegiance" and that I can vote for the President, my county clerk, and the Mayor. But to me it means most of all to be free and to be proud that I live in the United States of America here in Wisconsin."
Dig deeper and you'll find it is written by an 10-year-old who, in addition to thinking that the U. S. is in Wisconsin, does not know that to be an American means she is free to NOT say the pledge and that she has 10 years to go before she can vote.
Thank you Google for establishing a 10-year-old as the #1 expert on what it means to be a patriot. Way to go.
For Example: If you put “Reductio ad Absurdum” into Google Translate it detects the language as Latin, and translates it to English as: “Reductio ad Absurdum.”
Another Example: For years (through May 29, 2018 at least) if you ask Google "What does it mean to be an American?" it responds with this as the first answer (in a box even):
"It means that I can say "The Pledge of Allegiance" and that I can vote for the President, my county clerk, and the Mayor. But to me it means most of all to be free and to be proud that I live in the United States of America here in Wisconsin."
Dig deeper and you'll find it is written by an 10-year-old who, in addition to thinking that the U. S. is in Wisconsin, does not know that to be an American means she is free to NOT say the pledge and that she has 10 years to go before she can vote.
Thank you Google for establishing a 10-year-old as the #1 expert on what it means to be a patriot. Way to go.
If we're going to Make America Great Again we've got to stop all this Reductio ad Absurdum going on.
by Len Bakerloo June 11, 2018
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A mode of ethics advocating the most irrational means of action possible to allow the inherent chaos of human action agency.
Rudy decided to skip the board meeting in order to shoot pool with a group of total strangers. His reasoning? Absurd ethics.
by carpenoctem63141 March 1, 2009
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Get the absurding mug.Reductio Ad Absurdum (Latin for "reduction to absurdity") is a logical argument that refutes a statement by proving that the premise would lead to a logically absurd and ridiculous conclusion.
Another great phrase to use against flat-earthers and other conspiracy nutjobs alike.
Another great phrase to use against flat-earthers and other conspiracy nutjobs alike.
Flat-earther: THE EARTH IS FLAT!!!!
Me, an intellectual: Oh yeah, then explain how nobody has ever fallen off the edge of the earth. Reductio Ad Absurdum.
Me, an intellectual: Oh yeah, then explain how nobody has ever fallen off the edge of the earth. Reductio Ad Absurdum.
by Mary Mary Quite The Contrarian October 30, 2021
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